


The flowers that bloom in my heart

by thequietcanadian



Series: Hummingbird week 2020 [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Language of Flowers, Romance, contrary to what the title implies this is not a hanahaki fic, day 1 red rose:passion, humming bird week 2020, hummingbirdweek, implied Taiyang/Raven Branwen, sibling meddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24378967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequietcanadian/pseuds/thequietcanadian
Summary: Summer keeps finding random gifts on her bed.who could be leaving them?
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Summer Rose, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: Hummingbird week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760326
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	The flowers that bloom in my heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Happy hummingbird week! I'm so excited to be doing this and I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review if you can it would mean the world to me! hope everyone is staying healthy out there and see you again tomorrow for day 2!

It was the third day in a row Summer found a small box placed on her bunk bed. She glanced around the room, but she already knew that nobody was in here. Tai and Raven had set out to go “shopping” which both Qrow and Summer knew was code for date. Honestly Summer couldn’t understand why the two were trying to hide it. Both Summer and Qrow knew and neither cared. Well that was a lie Qrow made a face every time the two flirted with each other while they were training, they weren’t even being subtle, it’s like the two thought they were stupid. But this wasn’t the point, there was a box in her bed, one that wasn’t there this morning. She was sure because she’d double checked, when she’d woken up.

The gifts had started nearly two days ago, and hadn’t stopped since, each time being left somewhere on her bed. The gifts though didn’t exactly indicate who exactly was leaving the gifts, and as time began to pass, it just left her feeling more and more confused. Was it from her teammates? Or another student? It wasn’t her birthday and nobody had attempted to ask her out in awhile. Summer didn’t think she’d met anybody new recently but maybe a secret admirer she hadn’t meet? Summer thought it was highly unlikely, especially at beacon, everyone loved to gossip. Summer sighed sitting down on her bed, pulling out the delicate gift that started everything.

The first night, after the four of them had come back from the dinning hall, the box had been hidden under her pillow and she’d silently opened it as Qrow and Raven bickered over who was the better sword wielder. It was Qrow in Summers opinion, harbinger was practically an extension of him at this point, being effortlessly whirled around him to protect himself from shots, and defend his teammates. Meanwhile Raven only seemed to use omen when she felt like it, using her surroundings to her advantage before she even attempted to engage an enemy. More often then not she’d use Qrow as bait, causing tensions to run high afterwards as well. But her strategy also often left her with clumsy openings, ones which could have been easily covered if she practiced with it more often. As the two argued Tai had made his escape to the bathroom for a shower before it became intense, and would have pulled him into it. The twos argument though gave her enough time to quickly peek inside the box. She’d involuntarily let out a soft gasp when she’d seen it but neither of the siblings seemed to notice. Inside sat a perfectly shaped yellow rose, with the edges of the petals turning into a deep crimson, it seemed to glisten in the dorm rooms light, and in closer inspection, appeared to have some form of dust coating to keep it in perfect condition. Summer adored it and if she was being honest it was one of the most beautiful gifts shed ever received. Feeling selfish, and wanting to avoid her teammates teasing, she had slowly edged towards, her desk drawer, sliding drawer open and carefully, resting it on top of some spare notebooks. Summer had shut it rather quickly, the sound drawing Raven’s eyes two it, before looking over to Summer. Summer had merely smiled innocently up at her, which had drawn Qrow’s attention as well.

“did I miss something?” He asked annoyance in his tone as he crossed his arms. Summer shook her head before, glancing over at Raven.

“You’re wrong by the way” The scowl Raven gave her and Qrow’s triumphant shout was enough to distract them in that moment, and that’s all Summer really needed. Hours later, when the broken moon was high in the sky, and her teammates breathing had evened out, she pulled out the rose again, admiring it in the moonlight. She’d fallen asleep with it that night tucking protectively in her grasp.

Looking back on it Summer should have began questioning how it got there in the first place. But she’d been so enamored by the pretty rose that she hadn’t really thought much on it. It wasn’t until the next day when she’d opened the drawer to put it back, did she wonder how much something like this would cost, and why exactly someone would give it to her. Her first thought though was not to dart to a love interest, on the contrary many people friends and acquaintances alike often gave her the petals that often accompanied her semblance, saying jokingly often times that she needs to start cleaning up her messes. No, it wasn’t the first gift that made her begin to suspect something was going on but the second ones.

Summer had found the second box on her bed while running back to the dorm rooms after ironically forgetting her notebook that morning for class. She’d dashed in pulling the notebook from her drawer and was about to dart back out of the room, when something glinted on her bed’s grey sheets. The box this time around was in a shiny crimson material, and its reflection is what ultimately had stopped her actions. Curiosity piqued and notebook forgotten Summer had rushed to her bed. She carefully lifted the lid off to reveal a stunning set of hair pins, each with an ornate design of a flower. Summer recognized several of them, the largest of them being a sunflower, beautifully designed with golden petals, that feel symmetrically to one another. Accented to it were emerald coloured leaves, that curled out from around the sides. The second pin was just as nice, but held a more delicate beauty, it was a pure white gardenia, crafted with the utmost care, each petal seeming to fall perfectly into the other. Summer would have thought it was real, if it wasn’t for the fact that the smell that was so strongly associated with it wasn’t present. The next one was a bit more difficult for summer to identify, but quickly recognized as she assessed it more closely. The center of the flower was a plain white that bleed into a soft azure colour, one that summer realized matched the dawn sky, it’s the colour that ultimately gets Summer to figure it out it’s a morning glory. The last pin though is where Summer frowns, it was the only one she’d never seen before. The petals on the pin were a bright yellow, accented by a white centre that stuck out further from the delicate petals. She vaguely remembers seeing it in a botany book, in the section connected to mistral but beyond that she’s left with no answer. All the pins were gorgeous, and looked to be handcrafted, which in turn meant that they were likely expensive.Summer had to wonder who could have possibly gifted them to her, her musing was cut short though as her scroll let out an obnoxious cawing sound. She gave the pins a rueful smile as she looked down at Qrow’s text.

_“Lost short stack?_ Summer let out a huff of irritation.

_“Of course, not birdie, why do you ask?”_ Summer grabbed one of the pins as she waited for a reply, carefully arranging it so it would hold her hair out of her face. Her phone cawed at her once again.

_“Summer, you’re twenty minutes late”_ Summer froze arms posed above her head, she glanced at the clock and sure enough, it had been longer than she’d expected. Without thinking she dropped the box and in a mad rush zoomed out the door, the small trinkets forgot. Oobleck and Port had created enough of a distraction for her to easily slip into a seat beside Qrow and Tai. He gave her a small smile, before pretending to pay attention to whatever the professor had been saying, but the light blush across his cheeks went unnoticed by her, as she frantically tried to catch up on twenty minutes worth of notes.

She’d spent a good portion of that day, pondering on the hair pins, and would have kept doing so, if Qrow and Tai hadn’t started arguing on who was better at the stupid fighting game they had on their scrolls. After breaking up that fight and Raven giving her an odd side eye, Summer managed to re-find the pins which had fallen behind her bed, and add them to her collection in their shared bathroom, making sure to be extra careful with them.

Today seemed to be no different then the last two days, as the box laid inconspicuously on the perfectly made bed. Summer didn’t even know who had, had time to place it there in the ten minutes she’d been gone to grab some snacks for her and Qrow’s movie night. Tai and Raven were going to “study” that night, but with it being a Friday Summer figured it could wait till Sunday. It hadn’t been hard for Summer to convince Qrow to join her, especially after she’d inserted the idea of watching a zombie film, Qrow loved them even though most of them were pretty shitty.

Summer carefully pulled the top of the lid off, even though she was filled with excitement. Inside sat a necklace, with a delicately crafted pink flower. She’d never seen it before, not even in a book, and Summer already adores it just like with the rest of the gifts. Carefully as if she was scared it would break she pulled it out of the box, admiring it. Lost in her wonder she didn’t hear the door quietly open or hear Tai approaching until he spoke.

“Whatcha got there Summer?” Summer startled so badly that she nearly dropped the necklace onto the bed, and in her shock, her elbow flew out behind her nailing Tai right in the stomach. He fell, letting out a low groan of pain.

“Summer what the hell”

“Tai! I’m sooo sorry, I didn’t mean to- I- you just startled me was all” Summer looked down at him sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck, before reaching a hand down and helping him up.

“It’s fine Summer, but you never did answer me”

“Huh? Oh. Um okay, so the last few days I’ve been getting these gifts on my bed, small ones of course but I don’t know who or why they’re giving them to me” Summer reaches for her dresser drawer pulling it open and revealing the rose before going to retrieve the hair pins as well. Tai started at them curiously before looking up at Summer.

“You have no idea who’s sending them to you?” She shook her head, and Tai gave her a small grin.

“Well, it’s clear what there trying to say at least” Summer stared at him curiously, not quite understanding.

“What do you mean?”

“The flowers they all mean something”

“They do?” Tai raised an eyebrow up at her.

“Of course,” Thinking back on it, Tai should have been the first person she asked, his parents out in Patch ran one of the most well-known flower shops on the island, Tai would recognize most if not all of them considering he worked there during summer vacation. But telling Tai would have meant that Raven would almost immediately know, and then Qrow would know, and the endless teasing would ensue. Since she couldn’t exactly lie to Tai though she might as well get some answers out of it.

“Tell me what they mean!” Summer yelled at him in excitement gripping his arm.

“Sheesh okay, relax Summer. The rose, the colours were picked out for a reason yellow with red? It’s meant to tell you their falling in love with you, that or friendship, but coupled with your other presents it’s definitely the first one” Summer looked over at him in surprise, but Tai merely rolled his eyes, before giving her a look like she was an idiot.

“Summer”

“what after the last time I figured nobody would be stupid enough to do it again” Summer had dated a few people at beacon, but most hadn’t worked out, to preoccupied with her goal of being a huntress, and not enough time spent with her lovers. Her last break up though had ended disastrously, and unfortunately very publicly. Summer still avoids the area where it happened, the memory still painful. That had been about a year and a half ago and she hadn’t met anyone else who was interested since than, most having backed off.

“What do the others mean?” She asked, weariness cutting into the once excited tone. Tai for once read the room a bit better and softened his tone.

“The sunflower represents adoration, while the gardenia means secret love, they likely went with symbology because they assume it’s one sided, which makes sense then why they picked the morning glory- love in vain or affection, but the narcissus really seals the deal on what they think unrequited love- they think you don’t like them back” Tai smiled at her smugly, and Summer stared at the gifts for a moment, before looking back over to Tai.

“If they think it’s one sided then why go to all this trouble, and who is it? There’s no name or personal identifying marks on the boxes” Tai rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Summer, nobody has access to our rooms except well us”

“Yeah and? You going somewhere with that?” Tai sighed in exasperation.

“Come on Sum think about it, really think about it” she took a deep breath before attempting to connect the dots. Her initial thoughts if she hadn’t known any better would be to say it was Tai, with his vast knowledge of plants, it would be right up his alley. But Summer did know better, and knew that his infatuation with Raven was currently all encompassing. Speaking of Raven, Subtlety wasn’t Ravens strong suit, she was fairly straight forward, with her confessions and wouldn’t have put much thought into the gift. Which left one person.

“Qrow? What no way, when would he have even? And if he doesn’t think it’d work then why now? And with these gifts-“Summer knew she was rambling, panic entering her mind as she realized that Qrow had been showing the signs of a crush for a while now. The blushing, the side eyes, the soft expressions they shared, the not so subtly brooding Qrow did when Summer went out on a date or brought someone back to the dorm.

“He didn’t” Raven stood in the doorway; arms crossed expression unreadable. Summer just stared at her a moment before Raven strode across the room, opening up Qrow’s desk drawer. Inside seemed to be several more small boxes.

“I’ve been leaving them on your bed, I’m tired of seeing my brother moon over you, without doing anything about it” she paused a moment, before continuing.

“The gifts are all his choosing, I found them a few days ago while looking for a pen, he must have bought them when he saw them and then just stuffed them in the drawer when he was too much of a coward to give them to you” it was silent in the room for a moment the three of them not moving or saying a word. The squeak of the door and the sound of a foot banging on the door followed by a swear the only indication of who it was.

“Summer, you’re not going to believe this! So, they had the one I was telling you about the one, the one based on the video game remember? And then on top of that they had the one you wanted to watch that takes place in old Victorian era and said I had to see it so I grabbed that and-“ The smile that had been plaster on Qrow’s face quickly vanished as he saw the three staring at him. Qrow’s eyes darted between the three of them before landing on the open dresser drawer. His eyes quickly glanced back over to Summer, and the small treasure in her hands. His face flushed a dark red.

“Qrow-” he didn’t wait to hear her response, instead the bag holding the movies fell from his arm, and he raced out the door, slamming it behind him.

“Shit, Qrow” Summer went to chase after him, glaring angrily over to both Tai and Raven.

“We’re having a team meeting on levels of privacy after this, stop trying to look innocent Tai, I know you knew about it if Raven started it” with that she let her semblance kick in, white petals cascading down as she flew through the air. The hallway seemed eerily quiet especially for a weekend. Summer was checked through all of the dorm hallways when she literally ran into professor Ozpin.

“I’m so sorry professor, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s quite alright Miss Rose, might I ask though what the rush is for”

“Er... I just found out that... someone I care about a great deal had secretly been in love with me for awhile now, but the way I found out may or may not have been due to their own accord and been due to outside interference. And Q-this person may have ran off after finding out I know and now I can’t find them!” Ozpin studied her a moment; she swore she saw a smirk cross the wise mans face before it vanished into a look of contemplation.

“I see. So Qrow has ran off because he believes you don’t reciprocate his feelings” Summer gave him a nod.

“Do you Miss. Rose?” Summer cocked her head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“Miss. Rose, have you taken a moment to evaluate your feelings?”

“I-No” Summer stuttered out, uncertainty twisting in her gut.

“I believe it may be imperative that you do before you find him, goodnight Miss Rose” Ozpin began waking down the hall, before pausing a moment mid stride.

“The moon looks quite nice tonight; the view would look lovely from the roof tops” with that Ozpin rounded the corner and was gone. Summer stood in the hallway a moment longer before going to sit back against one of the walls. Closing her eyes Summer took a deep breath and tried to relax.

What were her feelings? Qrow was... well Qrow was Qrow. He made deadpan jokes at the worst of times that would have her howling with laughter until she was on the ground gasping for breath. He teased her relentlessly about her height since they first met but not in a bad way in fact it was kind of endearing at this point. He was also so kind, as much as he tried to pretend to be the uncaring, nonchalant tuff guy, he’d always take a moment to help some one in need, whether it be to carry groceries for an elderly person, to stopping a child from crying, he was always kind. He made her smile, and he was her best friend. The person who she could be herself in front of without judgment and, and gods she liked him and she hadn’t even realized it.

She shot up heart pounding, she had to find him and now. But... she’d already checked everywhere she’d thought he’d be, unless... Ozpins words to her rang out loud and clear. Qrow’s favourite place was the rooftop terrace on the third tower, that was only accessible through the secret passageway beside the library. They’d both stumbled upon it during there first year, and swore that they wouldn’t tell anyone. How Ozpin knew about it was a question for later, for now she had a silly bird to deal with.

Summer was at the top of the landing faster then she thought possible. She thinks distantly that this might have been the fastest her semblance had ever allowed her to be. Quietly Summer pushed the solid wooden door open, it gave a small creak in protest before there was enough space for her to make her way through. She gave a sweep of the area, the curtains that hid the tiny space fluttered gently in the breeze, past that Summer was sure she heard sobbing. Her gut twisted painfully, how long had she taken to figure things out? How long had he been here crying? Raven and Tai were definitely paying for this one. Summer quietly approached the space to see Qrow huddled into himself sobbing into his legs. His shoulders shook at the action, and Summers heart sank further, she hated seeing him like this, hated to see the suffering radiating of his being. She wouldn’t allow for it, so, quietly she kneeled beside him before wrapping him up into her arms. Qrow seemed to stiffen, before he attempted to get out of her arms.

“Qrow” Summer said gently, trying to coax him to calm down. It only seemed to get him to struggle harder.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Summer, you weren’t ever, you weren’t ever suppose to find out. I-I had no intention of- and our friendship its so- Ravens stupid interference-”Qrow seemed to ramble in ten different directions, never clearly setting down any one path. He was terrified Summer realized, terrified of what she thought, of being rejected, of well everything this situation brought.

“We can just pretend it never happened and go back too-” Summer frowned, before cutting him off

“No” Qrow stilled in her arms, and though she couldn’t see his face, she could hear a sob hitch in his throat.

“Oh okay, makes sense, you wouldn’t want to hang out with me after all this, I get it it’s a lot to ask for you to just forget what happened” Qrows voice cracked as he said this, and the misery seemed to come off him in waves. Summer let out a huff of annoyance, but realizes that her words probably came of horribly to the frazzled man in her arms.

“You absolute bird brain, that’s not what I meant” Qrow shifted uncertainty in her arms.

“Sum, I don’t understand” Qrow turned his head enough for Summer to see his expression, his crimson eyes gleamed with unshed tears of sorrow, but underneath that... underneath that was a shimmer of hope. Hope that he had pushed down so often because of his semblance. Hope that should have been beat out of him so long ago by his misfortune, and yet… it was still there and Summer wanted to see it at its full potential.

“I don’t want to go back to before tonight, because... because I think I like you too” there was a beat of silence.

“No, you don’t, you’re just saying that”

“No Qrow, I’m not, I just didn’t realize what was in front of me until I was forced to look at it” Summer looked out to the horizon. Taking a deep breath.

“I, I didn’t know, and I’m sorry I made you feel like all of this was one sided, but I, I think I like you a lot, but I know I’m stubborn and becoming a huntress has always come first, I-I can’t change that and I know that, that’s not going to be fair to you” Qrow turned burying his face into her neck.

“Summer, it’s one of the many reasons I adore you, I, I get it, but just know that I’ll be right there beside you for every minute of it”

“Besides, its not like I’m going anywhere, we’re partners after all” There’s silence between the two of them, as Qrow’s words settle over Summer, remedying some of the qualms she had about this.

“why you’d want to be with me, I don’t entirely understand though, its just going to get you hurt, and than you’’ figure out that all of this was a mistake-” Summer didn’t let him finish, instead she leaned down and kissed him, drowning out his words. The two pulled away from each other a moment later breathless, before Summer gave him a grin.

“I like you, cause you’re you Qrow, no other reason, and I won’t by the way, and what was it you just said? We’re partners”

“Sum that’s different I-” She shushed him.

“Nope” Qrow scrunched up his nose in displeasure, about to rebuttal again, but Summer stopped him.

“So, I get Tai knowing flower symbology or whatever its called but why do you know it?”

“My mother, she taught me and Raven technically but you know how Rae is when something doesn’t interest her” Summer gave a soft hum in answer. Before beginning to card her fingers through Qrow’s hair, he relaxed into her touch.

“Said it would help me be romantic or some bullshit” the blush that spread across his cheeks, had Summer almost giggling, and she filed the information away for later, even though Qrow had called it bullshit, Summer had a feeling it meant a lot more to him than he wanted to admit.

“well its certainty did I suppose” from the corner of her eye Summer saw something flash across the sky, and glancing upwards, she realized what it was.

“Qrow look!” Qrow looked over confused for a second at Summer’s excitement, as she pointed before he saw it.

“a meteor shower isn’t it lovely” Qrow hummed, in agreement.

“So, do you still want to watch movies tonight?” Qrow asked after a moment boredom already beginning to set in.

“of course,” Summer knew that what was blooming between the two of them would have its ups and downs, hell the start was crazy enough to begin with, but like many flowers in the world, they’d be resilient, and they’d figure it out, together.


End file.
